Talk:I Am Number Four (Film)/@comment-18988165-20181104195112
I rewatched the film a little while ago, and this film is honestly not as terrible of an adaptation or as a standalone film as I remember. Is it a good adaptation or a good standalone film? No. Almost every change in the second half of the movie goes against the golden rule of film adaptations: ALWAYS KEEP TRUE TO THE SPIRIT OF THE ORIGINAL STORY. But for some of the movie, it honestly doesn't do that bad of a job keeping to that rule. There are many, many changes, sure, but a decent chunk of them I think are for the better. Here are some changes/things that are good: 1. Probably the best change in the movie, the "football throw" scene as opposed to the "meatball throwing" scene that was in the book. Sure, it's different, but in my humble opinion, it actually matches the characters and the story of the original book far better than the original scene. It wasn't in the book, but it fits so well it might as well have been. 2. Have a Piken kill Three's Cêpan as opposed to a sword through the door. It is more exciting this way IMO and does add a decent amount of tension. 3. Omitting Emily Knapp. She was pointless in the long run. 4. Having John name BK instead of him having tags (that part in the book was dumb, so that was a good change). 5. Showing Six tracking John in the first two acts. It wasn't in the Novellas or the book, but I actually prefer this to the fax scene. 6. Six not having her Loric costume that I don't think actually shows up again is not a bad change either. 7. Speaking of Six, Teresa Palmer is not a bad choice for Six. Her appearance may be different, but I don't mind it. 8. In fact, the entire cast is fantastic in terms of looking like the characters. 9. Omitting Sarah Hart's mother's role as a real estate agent. That wasn't as important as it seemed. 10. The scene with Mark and John in the woods is IMO done better in the film than it is in the book. Though if it actually took place at Halloween (having the film's setting take place in Spring was not a good change), that would have been more appropriate and even better. 11. I appreciate the film actually giving Mark's dad a role rather than just giving a passing mention because him questioning John about Mark after Halloween (or Spring in the movie) actually makes sense. 12. I actually agree with the change of John and Henri going to They Walk Among Us for a different reason than the book. Should it have been like the movie where it's a video of John getting his scar? Maybe not, but I actually think the book's reason for visiting that place was shaky at best, so changing it to something more urgent was a good idea. 13. Although it would have been cool to include them, I don't think omitting Krauls from the movie was a bad idea. They only appear two or three times in the series, including this book. 14. Shrinking the Piken. They were WAY too big in the books. But boy oh boy, are many of the changes bad, like these: 1. Changing the design of BK's beast for no reason at all. The design in the book was cooler. 2. Having the Loric disintegrate. Not only does this not make sense, but it will SERIOUSLY affect the events of the future of this series (speaking of which, a sequel to this is almost if not completely impossible at this point) 3. SERIOUSLY making the Mogs OP and reducing the number of them to like, eight. Bad change, a VERY bad change. 4. The Mogs in this were a joke compared to the ones in the book. 5. Killing off Henri too early and cutting down his potentially powerful death scene. 6. As said before, changing the setting from Fall to Spring for no reason. 7. Making the last third take place all in one night as opposed to three-ish months. 8. Literally changing the entire third act. Especially omitting the fire at Mark's house, having John not tell Sarah who he is, changing the whole reason John comes to the school (the reason in the film makes ABSOLUTELY no sense), and completely changing the final battle 100%. 9. Making Six, not John fireproof. Also cutting out Elemental Manipulation and changing Invisibility to Teleportation was a bad change. 10. Omitting all flashbacks to Lorien. 11. Omitting all training scenes. 12. Changing Sam's last name and Six's alter ego. One of the biggest things to not do in adaptations is change names! 13. Having John not know anything about Legacies prior to discovering his Lumen. 14. Having John discover his Telekinesis off-screen. 15. Adding the "blue stone" and reducing how important the Loric Chest was. 16. Giving Six useless weapons. 17. Making Sam less of a hero in the final battle. 18. Removing Mark from the final battle. 19. Removing any indication as to what Lumen actually is. 20. Making Piken fly for no reason. I don't hate the idea of shrinking them, but making them fly was stupid. I could go on. Overall, at best I'd give the film a 5/10 as a standalone film, and a 4/10 (haha) as an adaptation. TL;DR: It frustrates me, this is not a good adaptation and not a very good standalone movie either. But dammit, some of the changes are good! Talk about being so close yet so far